Planet Diablo is still burning in the depths of the Hells. Lurking, just awaiting its chance to reclaim its nearly 12 years of glory.

If you want all the Hells to break loose: Tell IGN "We want Planet Diablo back!"

Until then... Happy hunting.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Artisans in Screenshots, VideosWednesday, August 18, 2010, 21:37 | Acolyte
| The new Caravan Artisan NPCs just revealed at GamesCom 2010 are ready for your perusal in screenshot and video form. We've provided a brief summary of the Artisan features in the new gallery addition.

Along with IGN's footage from the announcement presentation, there's a separate press video you can grab off FilePlanet and watch on the official Diablo YouTube channel.

IGN Previews Artisan SystemWednesday, August 18, 2010, 20:49 | Acolyte
| Check out IGN's preview of the newly revealed Artisan NPCs in Diablo III. These are the special characters who, once earned, follow your adventurer around to provide support and special abilities surrounding items and quests.

Initially you'll need to do some tasks for the artisans when you first meet, earn their loyalty, and they'll then join up and follow along from town to town throughout Sancturary. One of the goals with Diablo III was to add a crafting system, but the team didn't want one where the player needs to spend a lot of time in towns and slow down the pace of the game.

The blacksmith, once recruited, will set up shop in town and is surrounded by anvils, a cart and item racks. He'll act as a vendor where you can buy and sell items, and can also craft items. He tends to produce armor and heavy weapons more geared for melee characters, though there'll be crafting options for every class. More interestingly, he can add sockets to items and can repair them as well. If an item doesn't have sockets, then he can socket it so you can add gems to any item regardless of quality.

Taking a few strides away from the previous two games in the series, your adventurer will have along with him or her a caravan of three non-player characters. Rather than static NPCs that switch each time the player moves on to a new "town" or act, your blacksmith, jeweler, and mystic travel with you -- Once you earn them.

More to come on the Artisans! Until then, watch Game Director Jay Wilson's presentation from GamesCom on IGN PC:

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Ten Years of Diablo II (Again)Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 18:41 | Acolyte
| Congratulations to Blizzard Entertainment on their many achievements, not the least of which is ten years strong that Diablo II has reached since it's release back on June 29, 2000. The company shares it's own piece on the anniversary.

Planet Diablo hits its ten year anniversary in just a few days, and we can hardly believe this much time has passed in our history. So many people have contributed to and worked on the site, from writers to strategy experts to forum moderators and forumgoers to fan fiction writers and artists to demons from the Burning Hells and certain angels. We would like to give you all the cheesiest of lines: We couldn't have done it without you!

We extend our thanks also to the many mod developers and community members who have helped keep the game alive. The Phrozen Keep remains the center of on-going mod development for Diablo II, while the Eastern Sun and Median mods themselves continue to be popular, free add-ons.

Happy Ten Years, Diablo II community! And many more...

Thursday, June 24, 2010

2010 Global Writing Contest OpenThursday, June 24, 2010, 06:36 | Acolyte
| Time to get your muse inspirin'! Blizzard Entertainment launched another Global Writing Contest following last year's, which produced one grand prize winner and seven runners-up. For those aspiring authors, screenwriters, and literary gamers this is not to be taken lightly.

Whether you're an accomplished writer or you simply fancy writing as a hobby, we encourage one and all to submit their creative works to our judges of official Blizzard writers and masters of lore. Their eyeballs are glistening and ready, their ocular fortitude intensified by the 2009 Blizzard Global Writing Contest.

Do you dare test our judges' optic mettle, laying your ideas and dreams beneath their unblinking gaze? If so, submit a 2,500- to 7,500-word short story written in English and set in the Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo universe by August 23, 2010, and earn your chance to visit the Blizzard headquarters and meet the writers and staff behind the lore of Blizzard's games and books.

The grand prize winner will, this year, win a trip to visit Blizzard Entertainment headquarters to meet and dine with the developers. He or she will also receive their choice of a Frostmourne replica or the Diablo III "Overthrown" Barbarian statue. The latter is a limited edition collectible that is currently sold out.

Seven runners-up will get personally signed copies of the Diablo Archive, the Warcraft Archive, the StarCraft Archive, and the Warcraft: War of the Ancients Archive novel collections.

Branded as a "global" competition, contestants must originate from one of 24 countries around the world. There are some exceptions in states and provinces, so do check the contest rules to be certain.

The Contest FAQ also makes an important point about submission media.

Tomes, no matter the quality or quantity of must they contain, will not be accepted as valid contest entries.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

BlizzCon Tickets on Sale June 2 & 5Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 03:17 | Acolyte
| Blizzard Entertainment issued a press release revealing that tickets for the next BlizzCon gaming event will go on sale in just two weeks. The first batch will open for sale on the evening of Wednesday, June 2 at US$150 a pop.

As the initial set are expected to sell out in seconds, the company already announced that a second block will offered three days later on the morning of Saturday, June 5.

The company remains secretive about the number of tickets available, but last year it welcomed more than 26,000 fans, pro gamers, and members of the press to the Anaheim Convention Center's halls. As the event grows substantially in each instance, we expect BlizzCon 2010 to exceed 30,000 attendees.

BlizzCon 2010 is set for October 22-23 once again at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Evidence Suggests Skeletons Don't BleedWednesday, April 21, 2010, 07:14 | Acolyte
| Apologies, we just had to have fun with this one.

On the subject of the incongruity between the concepts of explosions of blood generated by death animations of skeletons when met with the Monk's popular skill Exploding Palm, we get a somewhat satisfying answer.

We have tons of unique death types, the exploding palm effect you're talking about though is an effect of the skill itself though and not the makeup of the creature it's used against.

When you apply the bleed-DoT from Exploding Palm a beating heart appears over the creature it's applied to. After they take enough steps or are otherwise killed the heart explodes and deals AE damage. So it's not actually the skeleton exploding (although that happens too) that's causing the blood effect, but the skill itself.

We'd still like to see more monster variety-specific effects. There's no doubt, however, that the battle scenes of Diablo III are illustrated both gruesomely and beautifully (and we're not talking rainbows, unless you are referring to rainbows of blood).

Charms May Return in Diablo IIIWednesday, April 21, 2010, 07:05 | Acolyte
| Official word is in on the subject of charms and whether they will be returning to Diablo III in a similar form to the previous game. The development team likes the mechanic, but understand the annoyance of rearranging one's inventory space.

Charms are cool. Randomized item drops that give passive bonuses while held? That's a cool way for someone to actively change their character beyond just skills and armor/weapons. Making it an inventory space decision; however, isn't very cool. You were trading inventory space for character power, which is sort of an interesting trade but also one that is directly and immediately punishing. It's not like giving up ... say ... health to do more damage. You aren't deciding that your play style can overcome your decisions on how to balance your character. Everyone needs inventory space regardless of how they want to play, so it becomes a mandate that if you want to do X, you better get ready to throw down a lot of town portals. Fun? Eh.

We don't have charms at the moment, but it's a mechanic we like the idea of as long as it doesn't become an inventory space vs. power decision. They're one of those things that certainly could come back but that we haven't fully explored yet.

Thus, while charms aren't currently in the game, we may see them appear as more progress is made. Like multi-player features, there are a lot of things yet to be conceptually and developmentally hammered out and polished.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Battle.net Matchmaking for LoveThursday, April 1, 2010, 18:32 | Acolyte
| Beyond the great new multi-player match-making system being introduced with StarCraft 2 and Battle.net 2.0, Blizzard Entertainment revealed it's plans to take "matchmaking" to the next level with a new sort of dating service.

Safe and Buffed

I’m looking forward to playing Diablo III co-op, and finding someone who is coordinated and has great communication skills is super important to me. I met him on Battle.net, and we immediately clicked. He's always on top of any situation, and I feel so safe when I'm with him. He's my best friend; I couldn't imagine a future fighting the Prime Evils with anybody else.

Offered with the trademarked tagline "Someone to pwn noobs with" the service promises to match you with "that special someone" in your league - Someone who can match your gaming prowess.

Well, fury no more! Blizzard's finally got the solution for all of us. They're releasing the first of countless official GPS Voice Packs from our favorite game characters, starting with the one and only Deckard Cain.

What better way to get where you're going than by following the carefully considered directions of everyone's favorite antediluvian archivist from the Diablo series, Deckard Cain? He's not just the last of the Horadrim... he's the first of a new line of officially licensed Blizzard Entertainment GPS Voice Packs, coming soon to the online Blizzard Store!

They've done it again. I don't know about you, but I'm running out to my local online Blizzard retailer to get me one of these immediately.

Blizzard to Sell Glorified D3 SnuggieThursday, April 1, 2010, 04:50 | Acolyte
| Brand new today, the Diablo III development team presents the accessory every gamer is going to need when hell freezes over and the game actually comes out -- The Diablo III Deckard Cain X-Treme Gamer Blanket!

But wait, there's more! Purchase two of the X-Treme Gamer Blankets, available in Magi Blue or Blunderbore Brown, to receive one of three ergonomically designed Diablo III Body Pillows!

After a long night of gaming with the Diablo III Deckard Cain X-Treme Gamer Blanket, you'll be able to sleep soundly and ergonomically with one of [three] optional Diablo III body pillows. The design of these pillows helps keep your spine straight as you sleep.

No more tossing and turning through the night! Wake up refreshed and ready to fight!

Made from ultra-soft, hypoallergenic, high-quality down and featuring iconic Diablo III characters, these body pillows are sure to lull any gamer into the secret dream level.

Friday, March 26, 2010

BlizzCon 2010 Announced for OctoberFriday, March 26, 2010, 07:23 | Acolyte
| The now-annual and official mega-event for all things Blizzard Entertainment, BlizzCon, returns this October 22 through October 23 at the Anaheim Convention Center, the company just announced in a press release.

IRVINE, Calif. -- March 25, 2010 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for its fifth BlizzCon® gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23, 2010. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® universes.

"BlizzCon offers us a great opportunity to meet with our players and share our enthusiasm for gaming with one of the most passionate communities in the world," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're looking forward to providing another great show filled with entertainment, competition, and the latest information about Blizzard Entertainment games."

This again quashed rumors that it might move to Las Vegas after a venue there listed it on its schedule.